The Polling Stations have just closed and the first exit poll suggests the way we may be ‘governed’ tomorrow via a fairly hung parliament. My recurring nightmare returns. Every now and then, I dream a dream that I voted in 1979 for Margaret Thatcher. Not exactly for MT, but for one of her ‘sidekicks’. No matter how I try to tell myself that I could not possibly have done that, the nightmare still returns. On occasion.

A future fair for all sounds far more welcoming than a fair future for all. Without a future, then it won’t make a jot of a difference whether it would be fair or not. But the future must treat fairly all vulnerable people who need care, who need fair and square care, who need care today not whenever it’s convenient for the care providers to provide that care at some time in the future.

I await the outcome of this general election without enthusiasm – I fear much will change, but I also fear that those changes will not be the ones we are hoping for. Fingers crossed that our elected representatives learn the skill of listening, understanding our priorities, and for once do what the majority of us would wish them to do. But I won’t be holding my breath. Call me a cynic, if you will, but I’d rather be a cynic than a blindfolded sheep.